Fleeting Moments
by roankun
Summary: Fourteen kisses, almost kisses and not so kisses. A Haibara Ai/Edogawa Conan oneshot collection. Kiss #27: Overflow. "You're in an unfamiliar place, and you're very, very thirsty. There's no water fountain or vending machine in sight, and you can feel your throat getting drier. Then suddenly, a person comes to you and offers you a glass of water. How would you drink that water?"
1. 01 Your Eyes Looking at Me

Collection Title: Fleeting Moments  
Title (Japanese): 僕を見つめてる、君の瞳  
Author: roankun  
Pairing: Haibara Ai/Edogawa Conan  
Fandom: Detective Conan  
Theme: #01 Look at Me  
Word Count: 901  
Rating: K  
Date finished: 01 December 2011  
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Detective Conan franchise.

**Look at Me  
by roankun**

It was an unspecial day, really. Kogoro had a hangover and had been screaming "Date More Minors!" and "Comply or Die!" the whole morning, which, as opposed to what many might think, were names of the race horses that he had betted on (and lost almost fifty thousand yen to). Ran had taken the early train to commute to Osaka for college but had graciously prepared breakfast before she left. The Shounen Tantei Dan had been snooping around the coffee shop directly below the detective agency for murder cases while waiting for Conan to come down, which basically amounted to nothing except a few pieces of free cookies.

And now it was a beautiful Monday morning in April, just a few weeks since they started third grade. Ayumi and Haibara were walking ahead, talking about last night's television drama. Genta was complaining about how calorie-deficient his breakfast was and how the cookie wasn't enough to make up for it; Mitsuhiko was spinning an outrageous (and completely off) tale of how the burglar on last night's news had broken into the high-scale mansion they were passing by. Conan's attention was mostly focused on the latter's chatter, though his eyes were on the girl walking in front.

He watched her shoulder bag sway from side to side with her every step, tuned out the drones of those beside him, and Wondered About Haibara. He'd done it so often that he referred to the act with reverential capitals. Right now, he was Wondering why she had stopped watching him. She had always kept those eyes trained on him before, and he had grown used to the warmth of her gaze on his neck, the prickling sensation on his skin that told him she was somewhere, watching. It might have unsettled him, save for the facts that he had convinced himself she was observing him for research's sake, and that as a boy with parents who had been barely around, he might have been wanting something akin to attention. Instead of disturbing him, he found it strangely comforting to know that Haibara was just sitting beside him, and she certainly wasn't looking at the blackboard.

But since last spring break, the pleasant prickle had grown more and more infrequent. Surreptitious peeks to her seat had found Haibara actually listening to the teacher, taking notes or answering questions in class – all odd occurrences. Conan couldn't blame it on the fact that third grade was more difficult than first; she had been clearly studying postgraduate level material before she shrunk, and multiplying fractions was easier for her than melting ice cream in the middle of summer. There had to be some reason, he believed, and oftentimes unwanted thoughts would invade his mind like moths would to a streetlamp light.

Thoughts like how she wasn't interested in him anymore, even as an experiment subject; how their conversations had taken a turn for the awkward; how he wasn't (and never will be) the prince in shining armor who would save her from the Organization's claws, as he had made himself out to be.

Thoughts that were too byzantine for him and his low emotional literacy, that couldn't be fathomed by his high intelligence quotient. So he'd found the ideal pigeonhole in the corner of his mind to stash all those unwanted notions away, and keep them locked tight except for that moment right before the sleep spindles conquer his senses when all his regrets would flash before his eyes.

Conan didn't like change; he could adapt, yes; but he would rather stick with the peace and the status quo, and that could explain his extreme dissatisfaction. It was an excuse so convenient he almost believed it himself.

But he wasn't one to fall for excuses. Excuses could hardly elucidate his decision to accept the chance to relive his otherwise lone-friend childhood right in front of his eyes when he could have gone back to the life he had once worked hard for. He stared at the gigantic wall clock of the elementary school where everything started and silently asked the edifice to shed light on his own unexplainable actions.

Feeling a soft, warm sensation on his cheek, he snapped out of his reverie and found Haibara watching him with amused eyes. His own widened with surprise and he lifted his hand to his unambiguously heating face. "Did you just—" was all he could force out his dry throat before his three other friends, standing by the campus gate, hollered at them to hurry up.

Shrugging nonchalantly, the girl grasped the handle of her bag and headed for the school. He watched her retreating back, and stopped trying to fight the smile playing on his lips.

The whys and the wherefores weren't so important now, he decided. Nothing could really be important right now, not with the morning sun splashing so pleasantly on the back of his neck, and his friends standing by him with a promise of more exciting days to come, and the cherry blossom petals flying in the wind, and spring stretching out before them full of endless possibilities. He watched the sunlight engulf her in an almost halo-like illumination and the wind play with her short, strawberry blonde hair. So she wasn't looking at him, and hadn't for a little more than a year.

Maybe it was time _he _started looking at _her_.

~.~.~.~  
_I __want you to see that I'm looking. I want you to look at me look at you._

_Your Eyes, Looking at Me_  
~.~_end_~.~

Title (Japanese): 僕を見つめてる、君の瞳  
Title (Romaji): Boku wo Mitsumeteru, Kimi no Hitomi  
Title (English): Your Eyes Looking at Me

*Schools in Japan start in March.  
**A mansion is pretty much a better-than-standard apartment, usually with a security guard or a password-protected system.

**Author's Note:** I cannot believe myself. Ahem. After more than a year of hiatus, I'm back! ^^; For now, here's another oneshot collection, with 30 entries planned. Will be rated T in the future, to be safe, but most of them range from K to K+. Some chaps have a different feel or writing style, though, since I'm still experimenting, but I hope that you'll enjoy each and every one of them.**  
**

Inspired by a fic called "Kick Off Your Shoes". I swear, my English title sucks, but I really like it in Japanese, and I dunno how to phrase it better in English.

Review please!


	2. 02 Goodbye Kiss

Collection Title: Fleeting Moments  
Title (Japanese): さよならのキス  
Author: roankun  
Pairing: Haibara Ai/Edogawa Conan  
Fandom: Detective Conan  
Theme: #02 News  
Word Count: 543  
Rating: K+  
Date finished: 10 May 2012  
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Detective Conan franchise.

**News  
by roankun**

The news hit him harder than a ton of bricks, colder than dry ice, and hurt more than frostbite, and that was not an exaggeration.

It had just been a year since she first entered – dare he say forced her way in – his life. First impressions aside, he had become quite fond of the sarcastic strawberry blonde. Her degrading smirk, mocking eyes and snide remarks were something he had gotten used to, almost relied on for comfort. He thought she felt the same for him and that they'd get through this inferno together – until this.

Just a week after the announcement and they were already headed for the airport. He was still in a daze, and couldn't focus on the idle talk between his friends who were trying to make the most of their remaining time together. Before he even realized, they were at the drop-off point, the Professor was taking her suitcase out of the trunk, and they were bidding her goodbye.

He watched as Ayumi hugged her, said something like "Don't forget to visit" or "Call us when you get there" or both. He watched as she returned the the hug, and replied, "I'll try." He watched as the brown-haired girl hesitated, before leaning in to give her a kiss on the cheek. He watched as the other girl's eyes widened in surprise, then settled into a twinkle of fondness mirrored by a soft smile.

When she turned to the lanky, freckled boy, that smile still on her face, he felt a pang of pain in his chest. He narrowed his eyes as he watched them exchange goodbyes, and it was only when Mitsuhiko, too, kissed her on cheek that it really hit him.

Goodbye.

_She really was leaving._

She didn't seem fazed by the kiss, and it only seemed natural when Genta and the Professor did the same when it was their turns.

When she came to him, he found himself wearing his usual arrogant smile, and heard himself saying, "So… This is goodbye."

"Finally," she replied, "If I may say so."

"You already did," he caught himself complaining. He saw his own hand reach out to her, and wondered if she should kiss her goodbye as well.

When his hand found hers in a handshake, he thought to himself: Well… I guess it's okay with this.

Looking up, he saw her gentle expression dissolve into her everyday face: that degrading smirk and those mocking eyes. He was waiting for the snide remark to come when he realized: He wanted to keep that face in his memory.

He liked it when she smiled – not smirked – and he liked it when the corners of her eyes turned up a little whenever she did. But he realized that he liked this face more. This was the face that he had come to trust, the face that denied gentleness and affection, yet was obviously a façade to what she hid beneath.

She whispered something, and he only caught the last bit of it before she walked away.

With one last wave of goodbye, she entered the airport's lobby, and that was the last they saw of her for a long time.

Conan looked down at his hand, the one she shook, and echoed the words he heard her say.

"You coward."

~.~.~.~  
_Kiss, a lovely trick designed by nature for when words become unnecessary. _

_Goodbye Kiss_  
~.~_end_~.~

Title (Japanese): さよならのキス  
Title (Romaji): Sayonara no Kisu  
Title (English): Goodbye Kiss

**Author's Notes: **I know that in most dramas, they go after the girl up to inside the airport, but where I live, those without tickets can barely get past the entrance. …Yeah, so I tried making a fanfic a bit realistic in the most unimportant parts. Got a prob with that? :P

Oh, btw, these oneshots take place in different timelines/universes, and range from around 500~3000 words, depending on my mood when I wrote it ^^; And... I give up. I'll admit it now. Reviews make me happy, so please review! :D Next chapter comes maybe in two days.

Here's a little something that should have been in the last part of this, but I cut it out, and then put it back in as an extra ^^;

~.~.~.~

She passed the entrance, pulling her suitcase behind her. She glanced down at her free hand, the one that he touched, and repeated the words she had whispered to him.

"You should have kissed me, you coward."


	3. 03 I Wrote in My Diary

Collection Title: Fleeting Moments  
Title (Japanese): あなたが来ないって、日記に書いた  
Author: roankun  
Pairing: Haibara Ai/Edogawa Conan  
Fandom: Detective Conan  
Theme: #03 Jolt!  
Word Count: 1,188  
Rating: K+  
Date finished: 01 December 2011  
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Detective Conan franchise.

**Jolt!  
by roankun**

"Come here. Now." Beep.

Conan stared in disbelief at the phone receiver for a good ten seconds before putting it back on its cradle. He couldn't decide whether she was just rude, or ill-mannered, or discourteous, or ill-bred, or impolite, or indecorous, or maybe they all just meant the same thing, or perhaps she was just plain blunt. Always straight to the point, that woman.

He shook his head in exasperation. He hadn't heard from her since summer break started, and the minute she calls, _this_ was all she had to say? Couldn't she have spared a little 'Hello, how are you?' just for the sake of it? Running a hand through his hair, he looked for someone in the house to ask permission to go to the Professor's house. Not that he needed it. He could have reached the place blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back and he _was,_ technically, nineteen years old. He could take care of himself.

But still, he needed to tell someone he was leaving. Who knows what sort of spazz attack Ran would have if he suddenly disappeared, especially at this sort of time, when a lot of not so nice people seemed to have their eyes set on Mouri Kogoro. Finding no one, he left a message on the coffee table that he was going to the old man's house and would call if he couldn't come back early.

This was a good time actually, he mused as he headed for the street. He had been meaning to go pick up his repaired skateboard, but something almost always came up before he could leave. Like the smoke bomb through the window, the firecracker in the mailbox and all the threatening letters. There was no way the Organization was behind it, and as time went on, it became obvious that they were just pranks —dangerous pranks, some of them, but pranks nonetheless— by someone who was obviously not fond of Kogoro.

No one had been hurt yet, but the traps were well-set and hard to trace. Then again, the culprit had slipped and one or two of the letters had been in an envelope exclusive to one of the smaller companies in Northern Beika. It wouldn't take long for the police to find him.

Pushing the thought aside, he Wondered About Haibara's mysterious phone call. There had been no urgency in her tone, though she usually didn't have much emotion in her voice in the first place, except for, say, irritation and sarcasm. She rarely even called him, and when she did, it had been about—

As the answer came to him, he found himself cursing at the absence of his skateboard. How could he not have realized it earlier? If he had known, he wouldn't have wasted those five minutes looking for someone to ask permission from to play outside like the nine-year old they thought he was.

When he reached the Professor's residence, panting, he found the gate slightly open, the door somewhat ajar, as if the person who had been waiting for him there had given up and just went back inside the house. Barging inside the house, he suddenly heard a loud 'thud!' and the sound of glass shattering from the basement.

"Haibara!" he shouted, alarm piercing his veins as he dashed to one of the two rooms in the underground – that woman's laboratory.

When he ran into the room, he saw the overhead bulb on, a lone lamp lit on the desk, broken glass scattered on the floor, a table overturned, the CPU humming, the screensaver jumping across the screen, the wall clock reading 4:15, and a bunch of other trivial details. But no Haibara.

"Haiba—"

"Would you _please_ stop screaming my name? I feel like the dead husband of yesterday's TV drama."

Relief washing over him as he heard that familiar irritated voice, he turned around and found her standing behind him. Found her standing close behind him. _Too close _behind him. Close enough to kiss...

He jumped back instantly, more surprised at that last thought than at her sudden appearance. "Wha—You—That—" he stuttered for a moment before regaining the last bits of his composure. "Damn it, Haibara," he finally mumbled in defeat. "I was worried something happened to you."

Her eyebrows rose a millimeter at his statement. "Well, thank you for your concern, Kudo-kun," she said, without much gratitude. "As you can see, I'm perfectly fine."

"Well, what happened?" he asked.

"Nothing really," she confessed, bending down to scoop the broken shards into the dustpan he didn't notice her holding. "I just came back here to do something useful other than waste my time waiting for someone who didn't understand what 'now' meant—" He grimaced at that. "—And just when I start typing, I heard the doors banging open."

Erecting the table, he grinned sheepishly. "I'm sorry about that."

She finished sweeping the last pieces of glass and dumped them into the trash can for non-burnable garbage. "I'm also at fault here. I can't believe something so insignificant actually unsettled me."

"Must've been some top-secret things you were typing." He stepped towards the computer. "It probably would've been bad if the wrong person saw it, right?" He grinned and moved the mouse to hide the screensaver. All his mind registered was that Microsoft Word was open before the stinging pain of a slap overwhelmed his senses.

"Wha—"

"It's gonna get _bad_ if the _wrong _person saw it, Kudo-kun," she hissed at his face. He noticed that she had turned off the monitor, and that the hand that had slapped him was the same one that switched it off, and that she was wearing an aquamarine sleeveless blouse that matched her eyes, and that her hair had grown slightly since he last saw her, and that her lips were somewhat cracked from the dry weather...

He jumped back again, scared of another slap and, perhaps, of that last thought as well. "I, uh, I'm sorry," he mumbled, averting his eyes. Somehow, looking into hers made his cheeks heat up.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The clock echoed the passing of seconds.

"So, um," he started, "What did you call me here for, anyway?"

"Wait for me in the living room, Kudo-kun," she ordered. "I'll tell you there."

Can't we do it here— he wanted to ask, but as his eyes slipped to the computer, he realized that she must have wanted to hide that document in case he tried something funny. He wouldn't, of course, but this woman could be so paranoid sometimes. It did pique his interest, though. He could almost swear he saw his name there…

"What are you waiting for?"

The curt tone reminded him of where he was and he gave one last look at the machine before heading for the door. "I'll be waiting upstairs then."

As soon as the door clicked close, she turned the monitor back on and closed the program, regretting that she couldn't finish today's diary entry.

"It'll be bad if the wrong person saw this, Kudo-kun," she sighed. "Really bad."

~.~.~.~  
_Worrying is a waste of time. It doesn't change anything; it just messes with your mind and steals your happiness._

_I Wrote in My Diary that You Weren't Coming_  
~.~end~.~

Title (Japanese): あなたが来ないって、日記に書いた  
Title (Romaji): Anata ga Konaitte, Nikki ni Kaita  
Title (English): I Wrote in My Diary that You Weren't Coming

**Author's Notes: **I started this chapter with the intention of making this for Wada Calcium CD3, but it ended up quite different from what I originally planned. Oh well, Wada Cal could just be like part two of this chap. ...or not... ^^;

But uh… I'll be leaving for a trip to America, so that means **no updates 'til I come back (probably)**. :( I'll be back by **June**, though, so in the meantime, leave me lots of reviews so I can be motivated enough to bulldoze through the rest of the chapters when I come back. ^^ But if I manage to get my hands on some internet connection (which might be a bit difficult), I'll update.

Thanks for all the reviews so far! I was kinda surprised to see that the people who used to review my stories are still around. That made me kinda nostalgic. :D


	4. 04 Which One Should I Give Her?

Collection Title: Fleeting Moments  
Title (Japanese): プラダか、キスか、どっちにしようかな？  
Author: roankun  
Pairing: Haibara Ai/Edogawa Conan  
Fandom: Detective Conan  
Theme: #04 Our Distance and That Person  
Word Count: 1066  
Rating: K+  
Date finished: 11 May 2012  
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Detective Conan franchise.

**Our Distance and That Person  
by roankun**

"So, what should I do?"

She didn't look up from the magazine in her hands. Plopping himself down beside her on the Professor's sofa, he had found it in himself to ask the girl for advice on what surprise gift he should give Ran for her birthday.

"What do you think you should do?"

She threw the question back at him, her voice clearly resonating 'I'm not interested.'

"I dunno," he sighed, exasperated. "That's why I'm asking you, remember?"

She sent a small glance at his sitting figure, just five inches away from her. If she reached out, even just a little bit, she could touch his face. Those cobalt, blue eyes of his, usually shining with his confidence and sense of justice, were now clouded over with hesitation and indecision.

It seemed that he really was troubled over this. So troubled, in fact, that through their five-minute conversation, he didn't even notice that she hadn't turned a flipped a single page, and that she was keenly listening to him through her apathetic front.

"Well?" he prodded her.

"What do you _want_ to give her?" she asked, reading the price of the Prada handbag featured on the magazine for the hundredth time.

"Something…" He mumbled something under his breath. "…Something special. Something… she'll always remember."

"That's a _really_ big help, Kudo-kun" she observed, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, well, so are _you_," he snorted.

"You're welcome," she answered, closing the magazine and moving to leave. "Now, if you'll excuse me…"

"W-Wait!" He grabbed her arm before she could stand. He moved closer to her, and met her eyes squarely as if to show her just how serious he was. So close, in fact, that she could see her own surprised face mirrored in his eyes. She felt the seconds tick by, and it seemed as if forever had gone by before he started talking again.

"Help me… Please."

Yanking her arm away, she heaved a sigh and sank back into the sofa, earning a relieved smile from him. She once again flipped open the magazine and was slightly irritated when she noticed that she had turned to the page she was previously on before.

"Then…" she started, as she turned the magazine to face and pointed at the handbag. "How about something like this?"

He choked in disbelief as he saw the price. "Are you kidding me! That's a freaking two thousand dollars!"

"I see." She feigned disappointed. "So two thousand dollars is worth more than your love for Mouri-san."

"That's not it, stupid." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Maybe _you_ would want something like that, but Ran's not into that stuff."

"Really now?" She flipped through pages, looking for a potential product that Angel might like. "You never know, she could just be pretending. A girl will always appreciate something like this."

She waited for his reply but nothing came. As they settled into silence, she found a fashionable necklace that might suit Ran. Just as she said, "How about thi—"

"Would you—" Conan spoke up at the same time.

After a moment of surprise, they both said, "You go first."

Watching him with narrowed eyes, Haibara closed the magazine and said, "Say it, Kudo-kun."

"That is… Umm…" He looked away and scratched his cheek, embarrassed. "Would you… Would you want that for your birthday?"

Her eyes widened slightly, and the corners of her lips turned up, forming something between a smile and a smirk, as if she couldn't choose between either. She inspected his face more closely, from his ruffled chocolate hair, to his clear cobalt eyes before settling on his lips. He was biting his lips, so uncharacteristic of him that she caught herself staring.

"Kiss…"

The word left her mouth before she even noticed. It was only when Conan let out a small "Ah" that she fully realized what she just said. In an effort to clear the misunderstanding, she waved her free hand, and stuttered, "I-I meant y-you should give Mouri-san a kiss for her birthday."

"O-Oh… I-I see…" he said, as if hardly seeing anything at all. She saw his eyes dart once to her lips and she noted that the uncertainty in them seemed to grow with each passing second.

She cleared her throat, which caused him to blink. Standing up, she left the magazine on the coffee table before saying, "Well, that's that. I'm sure it'll be something she'll never forget." She made her way upstairs and Conan could only stare silently at her retreating back.

With each step she took, she could feel the distance between them widening. She was fine with this. Yes, she would rather be far from him than be five inches away and Mouri-san would still be closer to him than she could ever hope to be. Closing the door to her bedroom, she leaned on it and slid down to the floor, a finger on her lips.

"A kiss… huh?"

~.~.~.~  
_The hardest part about walking away is knowing that you won't run after me._

Which should I give her, Prada or a kiss?  
~.~_end_~.~

Title (Japanese): プラダか、キスか、どっちにしようかな？  
Title (Romaji): Purada ka, Kisu ka, Docchi ni Shiyou ka na?  
Title (English): Which one should I give her, Prada or a kiss?

**Author's Notes: **Seems like I couldn't get over my habit of calling Haibara "Haibara," even when I call everyone else by the first names ^^;

Aaaand, here's another extra something that _really_ should be cut out. I _really _like it, but it's well… I don't feel like it belongs in this fic.

~.~.~.~

Conan reached for the magazine, flipping through the pages until he found the Prada handbag she had pointed out earlier. Like it did before, it stated the two thousand dollar price in clear bold print.

"Two thousand dollars may be worth more than my love for Ran…" he whispered. _But for you, this is nothing._


	5. 05 Do You Know What It's Like?

Collection Title: Fleeting Moments  
Title (Japanese): 君は、それがどのようなものか知っている？  
Author: roankun  
Pairing: Haibara Ai/Edogawa Conan  
Fandom: Detective Conan  
Theme: #05 "Hey, You Know…"  
Word Count: 1,170  
Rating: K+  
Date finished: 22 April 2012  
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Detective Conan franchise.

**"Hey, you know…"  
by roankun**

"Why do you keep lying to yourself!"

It was one of those rare moments when Conan lost his temper. He had been lazing around the Professor's house just moments before, reading his Sherlock Holmes novels and playing the old man's newest retro adventure game, when a certain strawberry blonde-haired girl walked into the living room and pushed one wrong button too many.

She wasn't even talking about him; none of the regular insults left her mouth. The topic of her statement was something she infrequently talked about – herself.

Frankly, he had never liked her "The world could go on without me" attitude. She thought too poorly of herself, and despite her brains and her looks, she refused to believe that she had some sort of value, that someone actually cared for her, that no matter what she might have been, someone actually wanted to be with her and see what she would become.

She might just be a mere eighteen years old, but the predicaments she had gone through had given her quite the negative disposition. Yes, he understood that. But there were times when she said a bit too much, and that irked him.

Didn't she notice the smile of the Professor when she was around? Didn't she notice the laughter of the Detective Boys when she walked home with them? Didn't she notice how Ran's mood got lighter whenever they meet? Didn't she notice how much _he_ relied on her?

No… She noticed. She must have. So why can't she just accept everyone's affection and live life like a normal person? Why does she keep acting this way? Why does she always belittle herself?

"Why do you keep wishing to die…?"

He gritted his teeth and met her eyes squarely, ignoring the controller that was angrily flung to the floor, the game character that was slowly being surrounded by enemies.

The girl was momentarily startled by his sudden outburst, almost dropping the glass of water in her right hand. She tightened her grip, and glared at him, her eyes not once leaving his face.

"How dare you talk to me that way."

"No, Haibara," he said, his voice and expression softening into what she perceived as pity. "How dare you talk to yourself that way…"

A pregnant silence followed, neither of the two letting up.

"Do you know what it's like to live everyday, knowing that just by existing you're putting everyone around you in danger?" she finally whispered and his eyebrows rose, because he wasn't thinking when he let his temper get out of hand, and he certainly wasn't expecting this sort of development.

"Do you know what it's like to be with the people you love, but you can never tell them who you really are? To have them treat you as someone else?" he replied and she blinked.

They were just rhetorical questions. The two suffered almost the same fate, both were under similar circumstances, and both wore the façade of a false identity. To say that neither understood the feelings of the other was a lie so clear, it wasn't even worth saying.

The girl set the glass on the counter and took a few steps towards him, stopping just a foot away. His breath hitched. She was so close, he could almost see the small flecks of robin's egg blue in her grayish cerulean eyes.

"Do you know what it's like to watch the one you love, love somebody else?" she murmured in a tone he had heard just once before, a tone full of pain.

"Do you know what it's like to be with the one you love, knowing that you can't tell her how you really feel?" he replied, and her lips twisted into a smile wallowed in self-pity as her heart broke into a million tiny pieces.

"Do you know what it's like to want someone so bad, but you know that you're wrong for him?" She closed her eyes, as if she couldn't bear looking at him anymore.

"Do you know what it's like to love someone who thinks she'd never be the right one for you?" Her eyes opened in an instant, and he met her with a smile so gentle, she almost had the hope to pick up the fragments of her heart and glue them together.

"Do you know what it's like to try to leave the one you love, but no matter how hard you fight it, you always end up beside him again?" She turned her gaze away and inhaled shakily. "To keep telling yourself to give up and act like you don't care, but your heart never seems to listen? And whenever he flashes that smile at you, you just forget all your problems and just want to stare at him forever?"

"What if you knew that she felt that way all along, but were just too afraid to tell her that you felt the same way? That you thought she might not believe you? That you were scared of rejection?" He cupped her cheek gently and turned her face so that her eyes met his. Mirrored in her azure orbs were the same desires that he felt – all the longing, the yearning, the want – no, the need – to let loose all the feelings that had been contained for so long.

Her lips opened and closed, as if there was something she wanted to say but couldn't form the words.

Leaning closer, he reached for her hand as he whispered, "What if I kissed you now?"

His right hand tucked a lock of hair behind her ear before resting on her cheek; his left found hers and squeezed it gently. He slowly closed his eyes and moved closer; he could feel her doing the same when—

"GAME OVER!"

Startled, the two jumped away from each other at the sudden noise. Conan, tripping on the carpet, landed on the sofa directly behind him. Haibara took a small step back and stared at television screen's GAME OVER sign flash with an unreadable expression. They remained quiet with only the game's ending theme breaking the silence.

Then, Haibara walked back to counter and reached for her glass. Tracing the contour, she kept her back to Conan as she said, "Of course, we would be speaking theoretically."

Dumbfounded, the boy could only nod. When he realized she probably couldn't see him, he voiced out, "O-Of course…"

"We… weren't talking about ourselves," she said, picking up her glass and finally facing Conan. What was on her lips was neither a smirk nor a sneer, neither smile nor a frown; it was her usual expressionless face, the one he always had trouble reading.

"Y-Yeah… I guess…" he muttered as he turned his eyes away and ran a hand through his hair.

The last he heard from her was a soft "I see" before her echoing steps told her she was leaving the room. When he heard the door click, he heaved a sigh and halfheartedly kicked the controller on the floor.

"…way to ruin the moment, damn it…"

~.~.~.~  
_Right now, I can't remember yesterday, and I don't care about tomorrow. This moment is all that matters._

_Do you know what it's like?_  
_~.~end~.~_

Title (Japanese): 君は、それがどのようなものか知っている？  
Title (Romaji): Kimi wa, Sore ga Dono You na Mono ka Shitteiru?  
Title (English): Do you know what it's like?

**Author's Notes: **Inspired by "Shakespeare". My gosh… Such a big quality drop. This was the first fanfic I wrote after 3 months… -_-" Well, it turned out… okay… (It got finished, so it's fine, I guess) Hope you liked it, anyway. Kinda OOC, though, since I always used to take the stand where Conan is the dense one, but eh…

Alright, this is probably the last time I'll get my hands on a laptop this month, so next update **really** is in June. I'll get home next week, but we'll head to Singapore right after, and there's barely enough time to pack (we _should_ have packed beforehand). And the truth is, I don't even have prompts 6-10 written and I have no idea what to do with them ^^;

**Enji86 **and everyone else wondering. Back in Chap 3, Haibara called Conan because of something regarding the antidote. That was actually supposed to be the main point of the story, but eeh... Things just don't go the way you want them to. ^^;

**YELLOW JACKET PRIDE**. Lol. Strangely enough, I DO have a oneshot of Conan giving something to Haibara for her birthday. No spoilers, but let's just say it's for prompt 13: Excessive Chain. ;)

Thanks to everyone who reviewed! It means a lot to me. :D Review please!


	6. 11 Geraniums for You

Collection Title: Fleeting Moments  
Title (Japanese): あなたのためのゼラニウム  
Author/Artist: roankun  
Pairing: Haibara Ai/Edogawa Conan  
Fandom: Detective Conan  
Theme: #11 Gardenia  
Word Count: 783  
Rating: K+  
Date finished: 07 December 2011  
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Detective Conan franchise.

**Gardenia  
by roankun**

"Hurry up and choose something, Haibara."

Conan, standing by the entrance of the florist and tapping his foot impatiently, scowled at Haibara who was crouching by a spray of geraniums. Her fingers were lightly touching the lavender petals of a blossom, and her eyes were studying its actinomorphic symmetry with extreme intensity.

Sighing, he stepped towards her and gave his uninvited opinion. "You don't have to give Ran a present anyway. Her injury's not serious and she'll be discharged in two days. She'll be happy even if you just visit her. Besides," he gestured to the bouquet of flowers in his left hand, "I could just say that the daisies were from the two of us."

She kept her eyes on the floret and asked, "Why daisies?"

"Eh?" He shrugged; he hadn't really thought too much about it. "I guess… Because Ran likes them and… they're kind of cheerful …and they don't have that odor that the people at the hospital would complain about. They're pretty much the staple to bring to the hospital."

"Hmm… I see." She switched her attention to the long, cleft leaves. Conan watched her with slight interest.

"Ne, Kudo-kun," she started, running her finger down the margin, "Did you know that daisies symbolize purity... innocence... simplicity... patience... and…"

"Since when were you such a flower expert?" he teased.

"And… loyal love?"

He could suddenly feel a blush playing on his cheeks. "I-Idiot, it's not like that!"

She then smirked at him, took one of the geranium flower pots to the counter and left him muttering to himself. He watched with half-lidded eyes as she exchanged a few words with the cashier. The clerk smiled at her and handed her a stalk of snow-white gardenia. His embarrassment changed into curiosity and he found himself raising an eyebrow as she walked back to him.

"He heard our conversation," she said, brushing the gardenia lightly against her cheek like a shy kiss. "Apparently, it means 'you're lovely.'"

He coughed to disguise the snicker caught in his throat. "So he gave it you?" he asked, not quite hiding the laughter in his voice.

"No," she answered, leaving the shop with the chimes by the door playing gentle tunes. "I paid for it."

He followed her, amusement sparkling in his eyes. "A gift to yourself, then?"

"It's for Angel," she deadpanned.

That stopped him. "Oh," was all he could say. Trying to change the subject, he inquired, "And the geraniums?"

She paused for a while and gazed at the plastic bag containing the pot with the flower of lavender petals. As if heaving a sigh, she took a deep breath. She held out the bag to him and he answered with a confused blink of the eyes.

"Carry it," she commanded.

"Guh—" His complaint was lost as he grudgingly took the burden being shoved in his face. He grumbled under his breath that he 'never should have asked.'

"The geraniums—" The hospital was almost in sight when Haibara broke the silence they had walked in. She had her eyes on the ground, as she always did, but he knew she was talking to him, not to herself. He said nothing and waited for her to continue.

"The geraniums… They're for you."

He was so surprised he almost dropped the bouquet of daises in his left hand. He had somehow convinced himself that the flowers were for another one of her biology experiments, or maybe her feminine instinct had wanted to decorate the Professor's littered house, or perhaps the flower contained an enzyme that could drastically reduce the Professor's weight, or... or something other than this. He had never expected that _he_ would fit into the equation.

"What—" do you mean. The rest of the sentence was stuck in his throat and he could only stare at her wonderingly as she flashed a small, self-conscious smile at him.

"I thought they suited you perfectly," she whispered. Her aquamarine-grey eyes met his cobalt blue ones. "Did you know, Kudo-kun? Geraniums symbolize…"

He waited in tense anticipation as her mouth formed the next word.

"Stupidity."

"…Eh?" His mind, which was expecting something else, backlogged and turned all of its functions to desperately trying to figure out exactly what it was she just said. When it finally clicked, the smirk that he had mistaken for a smile, and the bedeviling that he had mistaken for sincerity, was more than enough to push the wrong buttons.

"Haibara, damn you!" he shouted at her retreating back, her shoulders quivering with restrained laughter.

As he ran to catch up with her, she whispered to herself,

"Did you know, Kudo-kun? That geraniums symbolize stupidity… and a true friend."

~.~.~.~  
_A single flower can be my garden; a single friend, my world._

_Geraniums for you_  
~.~_end_~.~

Title (Japanese): あなたのためのゼラニウム  
Title (Romaji): Anata no Tame no Geranium  
Title (English): Geraniums for you

*Geranium symbolizes stupidity, folly, meeting, and a true friend. I think it's perfect for the two of them.

**Author's Notes: **Inspired by "By Any Other Name." I think the theme of this one is geranium, not gardenia XD. Anyway, took me a good three hours to finish this one, despite its length. Hope you liked it anyway.

And, yup. A jump to Theme #11. Because I haven't written 6-10 yet, and I have this bad feeling that I can't... Ugh...


	7. 12 What Are You Doing to Me?

Collection Title: Fleeting Moments  
Title: 私に何をしてるの？  
Author: roankun  
Pairing: Haibara Ai/Edogawa Conan  
Fandom: Detective Conan  
Theme: #13 In a Good Mood  
Word Count: 714  
Rating: K+  
Date finished: 17 January 2012  
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Detective Conan franchise.

**In a Good Mood  
by roankun**

There were times when Edogawa Conan would do things that left her completely disoriented.

No, not the attracting murders, finding the clues, deducing the criminal, and, for some weird reason, putting on a show of exactly how the crime was committed. She was used to that. She knew he was that sort of person ever since she started observing him as the sole survivor of APTX-4869, even more so now that she spent these past few years —it pained her to say this— under his protection.

She's talking about the things he'd started doing — to her.

She'd already figured out that he was kind and gentle, the type that would come to her rescue when she needed help and would butt into her business even if she didn't want it, just because he knew that she needed someone beside her. He'd always done that, not just to her, but to everyone around him — be it Angel, or Ayumi, or Tsuburaya-kun, or Kojima-kun, or the Professor, or even that drunkard of an old man.

Not everybody noticed how special he was, maybe because they were too preoccupied with themselves, or perhaps she just wasn't used to the treatment he was giving her, and it was leaving her at a loss as to what to do. Perhaps she was just different, and the others, having been surrounded by gentleness all their lives, were accustomed to such compassion.

Glancing at him rereading one of his hardcovers of Sherlock Holmes, she bit her lip in contemplation.

If the others had noticed the change in the way they both treated each other, they refused to acknowledge or say anything about it.

She could not deny the idea that something _had, _indeed, changed. She couldn't admit it. But she couldn't deny it either.

Sometimes, on the way home from school, while the rowdy trio would dance ahead and the two of them would amble behind, his shoulder would casually bump against hers. He had apologized the first time, and she had dismissed as 'Don't mind it'. Since then, he wouldn't say anything whenever it happened, yet she could almost swear that it was becoming more and more frequent.

Sometimes, it wasn't his shoulder, but his hand that would brush lightly against hers. Her demeanor could hide it, but her mind didn't think it was so simple to ignore and treat the contact as a mere happenstance.

Sometimes, when he was absolutely sure no one was watching, he would grab hold of her hand and squeeze it reassuringly, and she would let him.

Sometimes, when the wind was blowing a little bit too strong, he would reach out and tuck a lock of her strawberry blonde hair behind her ear.

Sometimes, when she fell asleep in the basement laboratory, she would wake up in her bed and she would have this feeling that it wasn't the Professor who carried her there.

Sometimes, when he was sure no one else would notice, he would gaze at her and her skin would heat up with his stare. Sometimes, he watched her with such intensity and she wanted to squirm so bad it was a good enough excuse to suddenly use the restroom.

Sometimes, he would grin and laugh with such bliss and carefreeness that a smile had already made its way into her lips before she realized it.

Sometimes, when she would stand in the rain and let it wash her tears away, he would come with an umbrella to protect her from the downpour. Sometimes, when she would push his hand away, he would drop the umbrella and wait with her until the rain —and the tears—stopped.

And sometimes, _sometimes, _he would kiss her brow when she was feeling down, and she would wish he wouldn't stop at just her forehead before smirking and teasing his hormones.

There were a million reasons that could explain this change, a million theories that could clarify this phenomenon.

But now, as he looked up and found her watching him, smiled at her which made her smile back at him, she realized that maybe a reason wasn't necessary.

Maybe she didn't have to think too deeply about it.

Haibara Ai was in a good mood, and it wasn't too hard to figure out why.

~.~.~.~  
_Love is like pi - natural, irrational, and very important._

_What Are You Doing to Me?_  
~.~_end_~.~

Title (Japanese): 私に何をしてるの？  
Title (Romaji): Watashi ni Nani wo Shiteruno?  
Title (English): What Are You Doing to Me?

**Author's Notes: **Inspired by "Gestures." Oh, and you might have noticed (or you might have not, or you might have, but chose not to), but I say "Damn parallelism." As long as it sounds good to my ears, I don't need it. ^^


	8. 13 The SM Duo

Title: SMコンビな二人  
Author/Artist: roankun  
Pairing: Haibara Ai/Edogawa Conan  
Fandom: Detective Conan  
Theme: #13 Excessive Chain  
Word Count: 442 words  
Date finished: 11 December 2011  
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Detective Conan franchise.

**Excessive Chain  
by roankun**

She was staring at me coolly with those ice-cold eyes of hers, holding the open box in her palms, most of her weight resting on one leg as she raised a questioning eyebrow at me.

"What. Is. The. Meaning. Of. This?" she asked slowly, putting emphasis on every word.

My eyes danced from the opened gift to her face in uneasiness. I wasn't sure how to answer her myself. It was entirely the Professor's fault anyway, saying out of the blue that today was Haibara's birthday. It was around five years since she started living with him, and this was the first mention she ever gave about her birthday. It wasn't my fault that I panicked and didn't know what to give her.

Alright, I take that back. Here's the one and only plausible reason why I chose that gift: I must've been out of my mind.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Her foot made a constant tapping motion that pressured me to reply faster. Before closing my eyes and answering, I took one last look at the open box in her hands: the gem-studded tiara, the gold-laced robe, the blood-red sandals with four-inch heels, the leather whip with a kiss mark adorning the handle, and the steel chain.

"I... I thought you were an S."

"I see." Silence followed for a good half minute. I forced one of my eyes open and peeked at her.

To my surprise, she had worn the robe, settled the tiara on her head, and was in the middle of putting on the high heeled sandals.

"Wh-What are you doing?"

"I thought it would be a shame if I put your precious gift to waste." She finished clasping the straps and smiled at me, sickeningly sweet.

She picked up the whip, gave the ground one good thwap before nodding approvingly and setting it back down. Then, she picked up the key to the chain and nonchalantly threw it out the window. When she finally picked up the chain and sent me another smile —scratch that, that's definitely an evil grin— I gulped in apprehension and a not completely unrelated thought ran through my head.

_I'm glad I waited until the others left to give her the gift_.

She started walking towards me, her footsteps disturbingly loud. She stopped less than an inch away and whispered in my ear,

"Aren't you glad you're an M?"

I had never thought of myself as that, but let me just say this: the sensation afterwards wasn't entirely unpleasant.

~.~.~.~

As an afterthought, maybe I shouldn't have given her the chain. Looking for key was really problematic, especially with the way I looked then.

~.~.~.~  
_I never want another person to __know just how incredible you are._

_The SM Duo_  
~.~.~.~

Title (Japanese): SMコンビな二人  
Title (Romaji): SM Combi na Futari  
Title (English): The SM Duo

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any part of the Detective Conan franchise.

* For you innocent people, S means sadist, M means masochist, and SM means sadomasochist. The tiara, robe, high heels, whip and chain are some of the few staples of an SM Queen. It's not a complete set, of course, but I'm not _that_ knowledgeable about it myself. Don't even try to Google it; I scared myself just by doing that. *shiver*

P.S. I just want to mention that SM goods are EXPENSIVE.

**Author's Notes: **Crack fic? I'm not sure what crack is, and to be honest, this is my first shot at it. It was funny in my mind, but I'm not quite sure how it turned out it writing. (And yes, this is the "other" birthday fic :P)

In fact, I had this done in fifteen minutes flat. And I just want to say that Haibara isn't really an S. She's more of a verbal S than er… a physical S. I'm kind of ashamed to admit that this was the first thing that came to mind when I heard "chain". XD

Sorry for the late update. School made me forget. ^^


	9. 15 I Lied to Myself

Title (Japanese): 私は自分自身に嘘をついた  
Author/Artist: roankun  
Pairing: Haibara Ai/Edogawa Conan  
Fandom: Detective Conan  
Theme: #15 Perfect Blue  
Word Count: 789  
Date finished: 22 April 2012  
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Detective Conan franchise.

**Perfect blue  
by roankun**

She couldn't stand it anymore.

It had been a good six months since she took the drug, a good six months since she shrunk, a good six months since she looked for the missing detective, since she met him, since he held her in his arms as she cried, since he promised to protect her, since she started thinking that maybe, _just maybe, _it might be alright to stop blaming herself, to live life without fear, to be honestly happy.

But that was just a lie.

It was all just a lie to deceive her. He never intended to protect her. All the times he did, all the times _she thought _he did, was just for show, just so she could fooled into thinking that he would always be there for her, that he would keep her safe from the Organization, that he would never betray her.

All he wanted from her was the antidote.

Yes, that's the only reason he kept her around. She knew that that was all he wanted from her. The moment she appeared, he had found hope in getting back his old life. That's what all the promises, all the encouragement, all the reassurances were for – to make sure she pays for her sin and give back what she took from him.

"I found you."

Those were the exact words on the piece of paper she found on her desk one morning. Perhaps, it was torn from one of the books she had lying around, the pen used was the one resting on the floor. The Professor probably wouldn't think anything of it if he saw, but the sloppy handwriting was something she would recognize anywhere.

It was Gin's.

When she saw the note, the first person she ran to was him, thinking that if anyone could save her, it was him. But when she saw the smile on his face, she didn't have it in her to destroy the illusion of a safe life, didn't have the courage to turn his dream into a nightmare, didn't have the willpower to tell him, "You know what? It's all over."

She locked it all up inside.

That same night, she worked up the resolve to end it all. She took one last look at the partly-bald man snoring on the bed next to hers, the one who had cared for her like his own child. Beside him was the boy, the one who opted to stay the night after testing his new gadget. The two who made her dream again.

All she could do was pity herself.

She walked over to them and gently touched their sleeping forms, a caress on the cheek so light, it could be hardly be called contact. Their chests rose and fell, following the rhythm of their breathing. She closed her eyes and memorized the sound, locking it away in a precious corner of her heart.

Try as she might to delude herself, she knew.

Thinking he never really cared about her, calling him a liar (never to his face), saying he betrayed her, telling herself that all he wanted from her was a miniscule tablet, forcing herself to stop relying on him, to be wary of him, to leave him, to forsake him, the way he would to her when it was all over, she knew.

That was a lie, too.

He was the kind of person who would never do that. He was compassionate, gentle, someone she could talk on the same level, and even if he was a little aggressive at times, he had a strong sense of justice that he'd never discard. That was the kind of person he was, and that was what drew her to him in the first place.

The only reason she called him a traitor was to make it easier on herself.

It was to make it easier on herself to leave. She could feel it, as her heart pumped blood through her veins, as clock ticked with every second that passed, as the air around her stilled in apprehension. She could feel it. He was coming. Time was running out. She _had_ to end this, before _he_ ended _her._

The last thing she did willingly was the kiss on their cheeks.

She heard the car wheels screeching outside. Reaching for the gun she had hidden in her cabinet, she took a deep breath as she tried to calm her nerves. Taking small steps towards the entrance, she crouched right across the door and ignored the beads of sweat dotting her face. She pointed the gun at her target and steadied it. She heard the lock click, saw his penetrating eyes, and pulled the trigger.

A single gunshot rang through the house.

~.~.~.~  
_The color of illusion is a perfect blue. _

_I Lied to Myself__  
~.~end~.~_

Title (Japanese): 私は自分自身に嘘をついた  
Title (Romaji): Watashi wa Jibun Jishin ni Uso wo Tsuita  
Title (English): I Lied to Myself

**Author's Notes: **Emo? Yeah, I think so too. I watched Perfect Blue a few months ago and it opened my eyes in ways I never intended. And yes, this is a death fic. I know it might have been a bit too hard to understand, and I'd feel as if I lack greatly as a writer if I had to explain what happened… Er… I'll leave it to your imagination, I guess.

I know this one sucks. I don't like it either. :( I'll post a good one next time. ^^


	10. 26 If You Smiled

Title: 君が笑ったら  
Author: roankun  
Pairing: Haibara Ai/Edogawa Conan  
Fandom: Detective Conan  
Theme: #26 If Only I Could Make You Mine  
Word Count: 2,767  
Date finished: 18 December 2011  
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Detective Conan franchise.

**If Only I Could Make You Mine  
by roankun**

Haibara was acting weird.

Not that she wasn't weird before, always keeping to herself, always saying those cryptic messages that only she seemed to understand, and those suicide attempts —damn, those suicide attempts. She seemed to have improved lately, but now, she started acting weird again, a different weird.

Sometimes, he would catch her staring off into space. He would stand a foot from her and she wouldn't see him even when he waved a hand in front of her face. She was obviously thinking about something, and it wasn't her sister, or the drug, or anything related to the Organization. He could tell; it was different from her usual spacing out.

On the way home, she would often slip off somewhere, either with a curt 'I have somewhere to go to' or just disappear into the shadows without so much as a word. She was a private person, he knew, but what could she possibly have to be so secretive about at this time?

Once, after she had left their group with a 'You go on ahead', he watched her walk away and was just about to excuse himself to follow her, when Genta suddenly said this:

"Don't you think Haibara's been weird lately?"

Ayumi-chan and Mitsuhiko nodded their heads in agreement.

"She's always going off by herself nowadays," confirmed Mitsuhiko.

"I'm kinda worried about Ai-chan," fretted Ayumi-chan.

That bothered Conan a bit. Of course, he was glad that the Detective Boys were concerned about her, but if they tagged along in following Haibara, she might notice them and turn about ten corners too much just to lose them. At this point, he should probably assure them that nothing's wrong.

"Hey guys, Haibara's just—"

"Alright! Let's follow her!" shouted Genta. An enthusiastic 'Agreed!' came from the other two. Didn't he have a say in this?

"Hey guys!" he repeated, louder this time. The three of them stopped mid-step and looked back at him.

"What is it, Conan-kun?" asked the sweet girl, while the other two eyed him, annoyed.

"You don't need to tail Haibara. She's probably just gonna go to the supermarket to buy the Professor some low-fat food or something."

The portly kid had looked interested when he heard the words 'supermarket' and 'food' and said, "Then that's all the more reason we should go! She might treat us to some candy if we're good!"

"What is she, your neighborhood grandmother!" retorted Conan.

"That's right, Genta-kun!" injected the freckled boy. "Something _must_ be wrong with Haibara-san! You too, Conan-kun!" He turned to shoot a heated look at the bespectacled youth. "As the person closest to her, _you _of all people should have noticed!" With that, he ran off in the direction the girl of subject disappeared to.

_As the person closest to her..._ was all his mind could register before the two with him ran off to follow.

"W-Wait for me!" he yelled, as his legs pumped to catch up with the taller three.

A minute of running and pointless hiding behind street lamps brought them to the —his eyes couldn't believe it— supermarket. She couldn't _possibly _be going here to buy some low-fat food, right? They watched behind one of the electricity poles as Haibara entered the store with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Alright, we're infiltrating the building," announced Mitsuhiko, who had declared himself leader of the 'Follow Haibara Mission' aka 'FHM', which they had named just twenty seconds prior.

Once inside, they couldn't find that familiar strawberry blonde hair and decided to split up.

"Genta-kun, head for the snacks. Ayumi-chan, to the meat section. I'll go to the vegetables, and Conan-kun…" Their self-proclaimed leader thought for a second. "To the dairy section."

This kid… Sending Genta to the snacks was like asking him to leave. Permanently. And if Haibara _was _indeed shopping for the Professor's food, then she'd definitely head for the vegetables section. Was Mitsuhiko planning on finding her and then leaving them all at the supermarket to tail her by himself? Conan frowned at the thought.

Still, it wasn't like he could complain… much. They might find something suspicious in his behavior and tail _him _instead of the elusive Haibara. He dejectedly followed the instructions as they all went their separate ways.

"I'll just take a little look and then go to the veg—" was all Conan could mutter to himself as he rounded the corner and found _her _holding a pack of milk in her hand.

There was _no _way that she was in dairy section if she was just shopping for groceries. Yet there she was. Which meant she _wasn't_ shopping for groceries. Just exactly _what _was this woman up to?

He quickly hid behind one of the shelves and watched as she took the milk to the register.

That was all she bought. One of those kid-sized packs of milk.

As she headed for the exit, he contemplated calling the rest of the Detective Boys. But if he did, she might notice them and turn about ten corners too much just to— Didn't he already have this thought before?

Shaking his head, he decided against it. He slithered to the door and left the building just as she crossed the street and headed for the road by the riverbank.

Several times, she looked back suspiciously and _almost_ caught him following her. Still, he was _almost _sure that she didn't know of his presence, as he was able to hide behind a pole, or a car, or a man passing by. It was embarrassing, sure, but he regarded her queer behavior as a higher priority than keeping himself from humiliation. Perhaps the reason she kept sneaking glances behind her back was because she was just plain paranoid. That's what he wanted to believe, at least.

Nevertheless, she didn't stop walking, so she probably didn't notice him.

Soon enough, she came across a cardboard box by the side of the road. When she looked left and right, he raised an eyebrow in curiosity. When she crouched down beside it, both eyebrows were raised. And when she suddenly smiled, his eyebrows had almost reached his hairline. Exactly _what _was in that box?

His question was answered when a small head suddenly popped up from the box. A small _furry _head. A small furry head that _barked._

A dog?

Conan was about fifteen meters away from her, hiding behind an electricity pole, and he could faintly hear her giggle.

Giggle?

Was it true? He looked on as she held the puppy —an amalgam of a Golden retriever and a German shepherd— in her hands, as the puppy licked her face in recognition, as she poured the milk into an empty can of —was that sardines?— and as the puppy, probably about a month or two old, ran and barked and licked her hand which made her giggle.

Yup, that was a giggle all right. The number of times she genuinely, openly showed her happiness in front of him —not counting the times when it was at his misfortune— could be counted on just one hand. Yet there she was, openly giggling, chuckling, laughing, or whatever word you used to describe someone being _that_ happy, because of one puppy.

He didn't know if he should feel indignant and complain of nepotism —not that those two could possibly be related by blood— but as he watched her and that dog playing together, he could feel his eyebrows coming down and a smile forming on his lips.

He could have watched her until she left, and he _had_, for almost five minutes, but totally unexpected was the dog who had finished the milk. The same dog who bounced toward him with a bark.

Surprise was an understatement for the expression on her face at that moment. She suddenly sprung up with her mouth partly open.

"K-Kudo…kun?"

He nervously stepped out from behind the pole as the puppy ran around him in glee. "H-Hey," he greeted nervously.

Getting no reply, he stooped down and scooped the spirited animal in his arms. As the dog licked his face, a sudden thought struck him.

_Didn't this dog just kiss her earlier? Dog kisses her. Dog kisses me. She kisses… m-m—_

"What's with that idiotic face, Kudo-kun?"

"E-Eh?" he snapped out of his trance as her voice, much like cold water on his face, brought him back to reality. "Uh... Uhh..." Sparing a short glance at the dog whose tail was wagging nonstop, he said, "Er, nice dog."

With her ice-cold stare, the look she sent him was more than enough to send chills down his spine. Then she dropped the glare, sighed, and motioned for him to come closer.

When he diffidently walked towards her, with small steps that belied his normally arrogant nature, the dog jumped from his arms and leapt into hers.

As she stroked its ears, she asked, without looking at him, "What are you doing here?"

He looked up at the sky for a moment before deciding to answer her honestly. She wasn't the type of person he could easily lie to, anyway. "You've been acting weird lately and uh... We were worried about you. The Detective Boys… and me."

She looked at him curiously as he added that afterthought.

"So we decided to follow you, just to see where you've been disappearing to lately."

"Why are you the only one here, then?"

"Well... We split up earlier at the supermarket and..." He shrugged. "That's how it is."

"I see." Her hands stopped moving, and the dog cocked its head at her. She closed her eyes briefly and sighed, a mix of defeat and relief. "I guess it's for the best that you were the one who found me." She flashed him one of those precious smiles and he couldn't help but stare. There was just something about the way her hair framed her face, the way her eyes crinkled just a tiny bit, the way the dog mirrored her smile and the way that tug at her lips that could change her atmosphere completely. She actually seemed... nice.

"Were you thinking of something rude just now?" Her smile was immediately replaced by a frown.

"Wh-what? O-of course not." He tried to change the subject. "So, how did you meet this little guy?" he asked, patting the puppy on the head.

"His name's Kin. Because his fur's the color of *gold," she said softly.

"Your naming sense isn't that good, huh?"

"You should know better and keep your comments to yourself, _stalker._"

He grimaced. "So uh… how did you meet him?"

She kept silent for a moment before answering. "Remember the day we didn't walk home together?"

His brow furrowed in thought before he remembered. "You mean when Genta had to help out with their store, and Ayumi-chan and Mitsuhiko had some errands or something, and Occhan was screaming at me to 'come home immediately'?

Her eyes held a sparkle of amusement at his Kogoro-imitation. "Yes, that day. At that time, the Professor was away on a convention and I..." She averted her eyes. "...didn't want to go home yet so I took the long way back."

"I... see." That time, Kogoro had only wanted some extra sake or something trivial. If he had known, he would've walked her home, or maybe even spent the night...

_Stop stop stop! What are you thinking, Shinichi? _he chided himself. _Even if—_

"What's with that look again?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in a more composed manner than he did earlier. The puppy that had been wiggling in her arms was now back to kis— er, licking her li— er, face.

"N-nah, it's nothing," he covered. "I was just thinking that that dog also licked my face earlier, and now it's like another indirect ki—"

_What the hell are you saying you idiot!_ His throat clogged as his brain registered what he just said.

A smirk had accompanied her eyebrow and he could tell that through that mask, she was stifling her laugh. She relaxed her hold and the dog looked at her curiously. She took a step towards him and he gulped in apprehension.

What she did next took him completely by surprise.

"An indirect kiss, eh?" One of her hands suddenly found his, drawing him closer.

Definitely different from the slap he expected.

She then whispered into his ear, "Do you want it to be direct?"

He could feel his cheeks heating up, and when she pulled away a little to look into his eyes, he could see that _her _cheeks too, were dusted in a pale hue of rose. Lips partly open, she closed her eyes and he could feel himself doing the same. Could feel his lips pucker up. Could feel as they made contact with a wet, cold and smooth—

...Wet?

His eyes sprung open, and he found himself looking at Kin. The dog's tongue was partly hanging out, and it was looking at him with expectant eyes.

"Crap! Don't tell me I—" almost had a French kiss with a dog!

He then heard her laughter. A sound that warranted a better description than just the tinkling of bells. He looked at her, holding the puppy, amusement tinting her eyes, a genuine smile on her lips, and he almost forgave her for making him kiss a dog's tongue. _Almost._

"Why you little—"

He stretched out his hands to grab her, though he certainly wasn't expecting to reach her, and it was purely by chance that when he did, he pulled her back with more force than necessary. Enough force to make her stumble forward. Enough to make her stumble forward and make something _soft_ make contact with his lips.

He froze. So did she. So did time, it seemed. The only thing that didn't was the dog between them, barking and panting.

"D-Did we just...?" he trailed off, not sure if he wanted to finish the question.

'It was the nose' was her quick reply. For some reason, a wave of disappointment washed over him. He fumbled a bit with his words before settling for a short 'Oh.'

"The dog," she continued.

"Huh?"

"When I was teasing you earlier," she confessed, "What you kissed was Kin's nose."

"Oh."

_Of course._ He should have known. A dog's tongue would have been warm instead. And it would've been rough, not smooth. His mind wasn't working properly, and he had hastily jumped to conclusions. Then what about that one just now...?

"I guess it's about time to leave," she said, breaking into his thoughts once more. She had let the puppy down and was crouching by him, patting his head with a sad, gentle smile on her face.

"You're... not gonna take him home?"

She shook her head no. "It'll probably trouble the Professor. Besides, I'm sure someone nice will pick him up." Kin was reaching for her hand with his left paw, and her smile grew as she held it to him.

"I'd take that dog if only you'd smile like that every day," he found himself saying unconsciously.

It was only when he noticed the incredulous look she shot him that he realized what he just said. "Uh, no, I mean—"

Her lips settled into a curve that was neither a smirk nor a sneer, and he stopped trying to make excuses. After putting the dog back in the box, she stood up and started walking away. Giving one last look at the puppy, he followed, trailing a few steps behind, eyes on the ground, still embarrassed.

"Hey, Kudo-kun."

"Hm?"

He looked up and found her smiling at him. Stopping one step from her, he asked, "What is it?"

She took his hand in hers, entwining their fingers. His mouth gaped open, unable to form words. She leaned forward, and looked at him straight in the eye. "Even without the dog," she whispered. "I'd smile like this, if only you'd kiss me like that every day."

Three seconds passed. Five.

"H-Haibara..."

"Just kidding." She dropped his hand and stepped back with mocking eyes. "You really should stop being so gullible, Kudo-kun. Though your reactions are really interesting."

He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. He should have _known_ something like this would happen. Sighing, he matched her step as they walked back home.

"I can't help it," he muttered to her. "Sometimes, it doesn't sound like you're joking."

Her head snapped to him in surprise for a moment. She looked at his defeated shoulders, troubled downcast eyes, and ruffled chocolate hair. She kept a smile to herself and whispered to the breeze,

"Maybe I'm not."

~.~.~.~  
_Love - a wildly misunderstood although highly desirable malfunction of the heart which weakens the brain,  
causes eyes to sparkle, cheeks to glow, blood pressure to rise and the lips to pucker._

_If You Smiled_  
~.~_end_~.~

Title (Japanese): 君が笑ったら  
Title (Romaji): Kimi ga Warattara  
Title (English): If You Smiled

*Kin-iro is the Japanese for yellow/gold (color), and Kin DOES mean gold (or money XD).

**Author's Notes: **You must not sleep in between chapters. I just realized that when I wrote about 300 words of this, slept, then the next week's afternoon (because I'm nocturnal and it was Sunday so school got the best of me), I couldn't remember what feeling I had when I first started to write, so the latter parts kinda came with a different feel that the beginning. Excuse my amateurism. orz

It also came out a little (read: a LOT) longer than I had originally planned. But hey, I found myself smiling when I finished, so everything's worth it.

**holmesfreak1412**, was this cute enough? *wink*  
**YELLOW JACKET PRIDE. **Do you remember this? I had you check this a long _long_ time ago. lol


	11. 16 Thanks

Title (Japanese): ありがとう。  
Author/Artist: roankun  
Pairing: Haibara Ai/Kudo Shinichi  
Fandom: Detective Conan  
Theme: #16 Unrivaled  
Word Count: 1,461  
Date finished: 10 May 2012  
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Detective Conan franchise.

**Unrivaled  
by roankun**

They were the perfect combination.

He was the clever detective, almost omniscient with his skill in naming the criminal in every case he'd ever encountered. He was a bit showy, yes, but that only served to promote his popularity; people seemed to love it whenever he reenacted the crimes, save for the poor Inspector Megure, who would rather not have the unneeded demonstration, yet it seemed like the young man knew no other way to explain his deductions. And that arrogance of his… but weren't they both?

She was the genius scientist, creating new medicine, programming modern software, even going as far as being the head researcher in most of the latest developments in technology. She was as arrogant as him, maybe even more, but it didn't show as much because she hid everything beneath her cold exterior. She kept everyone an arm's length away, save for him.

He was famous. He knew that. Knew it to the extent that he almost bathed in it. He had fans Japan-wide, even reaching world-wide recognition. Most of his fans were female, and he topped the latest survey on which actor women preferred as their boyfriend. Other actors called this blasphemy; his acting career only listed one movie, and he wasn't even the main character! Seemed like that was enough to get more than half of Japan head over heels for him.

She was the one woman closest to him. Many envied her, but had come to accept it. Weren't they the perfect pair? Both intelligent, both sure to turn heads with their natural appeal, and both arrogant. Ah, but ignore that last part. Besides, most people didn't mind how close she got to him, he was still the ever-charming bachelor in their eyes.

He had come back mysteriously, around eight years ago. Now 30 years old, he was 22 at the time. Brushing off everyone's questions and concerns, he answered everything with "I was working on a minor case. But don't worry, it's over now." Never saying more than that, he carried with him a cryptic smile that belied the case being minor. Nonetheless, he genuinely seemed glad that whatever it was was over, and whenever he reminisced about that time, reflected in his eyes were the hardships, the suffering, but most of all, relief.

She appeared mysteriously as well, a year after he did. A striking strawberry blonde who greatly resembled the small girl he had taken care of the year prior, the 13 year old showed up in Professor Agasa Hiroshi's house as if from nowhere. The scientist welcomed her warmly, treated her like the daughter he never had. His peers speculated that maybe she was indeed his daughter, or perhaps, a distant relative? An almost unbelievable explanation, yet not at all impossible. He never affirmed nor denied everything.

He was the Professor's neighbor, as well as a close friend. He met her during one of his visits to his neighbor's house… or so the media hypothesized. The Professor was around 70 then, and although still healthy, he was lacking a bit of his youthful vitality, as well as his 0⁰ Celsius jokes. When _that_ day finally came, four years ago, the old man had a smile on his lips as he laid on his deathbed. His final words were "Take care of her."

She was 17 at the time, and needed a guardian to watch over her for another year. Hasty phone calls were made, but it seemed that no one, none of the Professor's relatives knew her, or even knew _of_ her. And just before the rumors of an illegitimate child started, someone came and took custody of her. Granted, he didn't pass all of the requirements, but pulling a few strings here and there labeled him qualified as her guardian.

He adopted her, yet she kept living the Professor's home. The scientist's will stated that he had left his house in her name, and she accepted it with a smile rarely found on her lips. Her guardian didn't protest; instead, accepted her decision with a smile similar to hers. He kept an eye on her from her the house next door, with a random sleepover whenever he felt like it.

She was often seen with him. Though she seemed more than capable to stand on her own feet and live alone, independently, he would often invite her to come with him, on trips, to crime scenes, and sometimes the occasional press conference. She didn't seem like the type of person to accompany anyone just for the sake of company, but one could see from her demeanor that though she may have been forced to tag along, she didn't seem to mind in the least.

He seemed to rely on her, more so than he wished to admit. It wasn't just the clues she would point out, or the cold splash of reality he sometimes needed. He liked her company, something he would often deny when pointed out. Yet the telltale smile on his face and the shine in his eyes told everyone else what they needed to know. Being able to talk to someone in his level, albeit a bit younger, was perhaps something he found comfort in.

She relied on him as well. Even though she was now 20, whenever he came to visit his adopted daughter, her smile would come more often, her mood would become a bit lighter. Her silence spoke volumes, implications that only _he_ seemed to comprehend. There were times when just a second of their eyes meeting was enough to carry messages. Short of telepathy, it was as if they had some sort of connection with each other no one else could ever hope to understand.

He smiled as he read the newspaper's headline for the day: Kudo Duo nabs Osaka serial killer. The media had gotten used to calling them the "Kudo Duo" despite the fact that she had refused to take his last name. The girl in question trudged into the kitchen, barely acknowledging his presence. He gestured towards the table, where the breakfast he had prepared for her was waiting.

She was exhausted. The long ride home tired her, but she blamed the press more than she blamed having to sit in a car rather the bullet train, which should have been less than a three-hour ride. She graciously accepted the food before her, and wondered briefly how he had the energy to cook when he should have been as worn out as —no, more than— her.

He watched her from the corner of his eyes, taking note of the content smile on her face as she took a bite of his specialty omelette. He was glad that he forced his weary body from bed to cook her breakfast. Sure, they were neighbors, but it wasn't often that she stayed over. The exhaustion must have gotten to her, so much that she didn't want to bother going to the house next door and just plopped herself in one of the guest bedrooms.

She finished her meal and did the dishes. Before she made her way upstairs, she spied him sneaking glances at her from his newspaper. She also didn't fail to notice today's headline. Sighing inwardly, she once again complained to herself why they kept calling the two of them the Kudo Duo. She never once asked herself why she didn't seem to mind.

He barely caught her goodbye before she let herself out the front door. When he was alone again in the mansion, he asked no one in particular why she didn't stay a bit longer. Making his way back to his room, he planned to catch a few more z's before he had to go to work. Standing by the doorway to his bedroom, he found himself smiling to himself when he saw his night drawer.

She had seen him, just as they arrived in Osaka, eyeing the season-limited chocolate in the convenience store where they waited for the local police escort to come. Just when he seemed to make up his mind to buy it, their escort came and all he could do was look back longingly. Later on, she sneaked away while he was snooping around the crime scene and bought the chocolate with the intention of spiting him with it.

He read the words on the note placed on his drawer: Thanks. It was just like her: straight to the point and oh so perceptive. Next to it was a pack of Hershey's Kisses, Dark Chocolate Mint Truffle. Opening the package, he popped one of the sweets in his mouth and savored the taste. The bitterness and mintiness tickled his taste buds and made his smile wider. But more than that…

They were the perfect combination.

~.~.~.~  
_Sometimes, someone can say something so small and meaningful that it manages to fit right into that empty space in your heart._

_Thanks._  
_~.~.~.~_

Title (Japanese): ありがとう。  
Title (Romaji): Arigatou.  
Title (English): Thanks.

**Author's Notes: **Yes, I did. I inserted a Hershey's kiss where a real kiss should have been. Apologies. But after writing a thousand words, it just felt… off having her kiss him (even on the cheek).

I read a few of my other unpublished works, and realized that perhaps, I like this he-she writing style -_-. It doesn't work as well for normal storytelling though… And… I actually started this in February, only got around to finishing it in May...


	12. 19 Those Lips of Hers

Collection Title: Fleeting Moments  
Title (Japanese): 彼女のその唇  
Author: roankun  
Pairing: Miyano Shiho/Kudo Shinichi  
Fandom: Detective Conan  
Theme: #19 Red  
Word Count: 1,535  
Rating: T  
Date finished: 12 November 2010  
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Detective Conan franchise.

**Red  
by roankun**

Miyano Shiho, their ace computer programmer, was sitting at the desk in her office, which was in the corner of the lab. The office had no windows, but featured two glass walls through which she could watch watch her subordinates in the larger room.

When Shinichi knocked on the glass door, she looked up from the file she was reading. "Come in."

Shiho, a strawberry blonde in her early twenties, was at the same time an elf and a succubus. Her aquamarine eyes were large and guileless—at the same time smoky, mysterious. Her nose was pert—but her mouth was sensuous, the essence of all erotic orifices. She had an hourglass figure—a full chest, slim waist and large hips—and long legs, but she chose to conceal those attributes in loose white blouses, white lab clothes and baggy chinos. In her scuffed Nikes, her feet were no doubt so feminine and delicate that Shinichi would have been delighted to spend hours kissing them.

He had never made a pass at her, because she was reserved and businesslike—and because he suspected she was a lesbian. He had nothing against lesbians. Live and let live. At the same time, however, he was loathe to reveal his interest only to be rejected.

Shiho said crisply, "Good morning, Kudo-kun."

"How have you been? Good heavens, you know that I haven't been in Tokyo, you know that I—"

"I was just examining the file." Straight to business. She was never interested in small talk. "We have a finished enhancement."

When Shiho was talking, Shinichi was never able to decide whether to look at her eyes or her mouth. Her gaze was direct, with a challenge that he found appealing. But her lips were so deliciously ripe.

She pushed a photograph across the desk.

Shinichi looked away from her luscious red lips.

The picture was a drastically improved, full-color version of the shot that he had seen on his attache case computer terminal the night before: a man's head from the neck up, in profile. Shadows still dappled the face, but they were lighter and less obscuring than they had been. The blurring screen of rain had been removed entirely.

"It's a fine piece of work," Shinichi said, "But it still doesn't give us a good enough look at him to make an identification."

"On the contrary, it tells us a lot about it," Shiho said. "He's between twenty-eight and thirty-two."

"How do you figure?"

"Computer projection based on an analysis of lines radiating from the corner of his eye, percentage of gray in his hair, and the apparent degree of firmness of facial muscles and throat skin."

"That's projecting quite a lot from such few—"

"Not at all," she interrupted. "The system makes analytic projections operating from a ten gigabyte database of biological information, and I'd pretty much bet the house on what it says."

He was thrilled by the way her supple lips formed the words "ten gigabyte database of biological information." Her mouth was better than her eyes. Perfect. He cleared his throat. "Well—"

"Brown hair, brown eyes."

Shinichi frowned. "The hair, okay. But you can't see his eyes here."

Rising from her chair, Shiho took the photograph out of his hand and put it on the desk. With a pencil, she pointed to the beginning curve of the man's eyeball as viewed from the side. "He's not looking at the camera, so if you or I examined the photo under a microscope, we still wouldn't be able to see enough of the iris to determine color. But even from an oblique perspective like this, the computer can detect a few pixels of color."

"So he has brown eyes."

"Dark brown." She put down the pencil and stood with her left hand fisted on her hip, as delicate as a flower and as absolute as an army general. "Absolutely dark brown."

Shinichi liked her unshakable self-confidence, the brisk certitude with which she spoke. And that _mouth_.

"Based on the computer's analysis of his physical relationship to measurable objects in the photograph, he's five feet eleven inches tall." She clipped her words, so the facts came out with the staccato energy of bullets from a submachine gun. "He weighs one-hundred and sixty-five, give or take five pounds. He's Caucasian, clean-shaven, in good physical shape, recently had a haircut."

"Anything else?"

From the file folder, Shiho removed another photograph. "This is him. From the front, straight on. His full face."

Shinichi looked up from the new photo, surprised. "I didn't know we got a shot like this."

"We didn't," she said, studying the portrait with evident pride. "This isn't an actual photograph. It's a projection of what the guy ought to look like, based on what the computer can determine of his bone structure and fat-deposit patterns from the partial profile."

"It can do that?"

"It's a recent innovation in the program."

"Reliable?"

"Considering the view the computer had to work with in this case," she assured Shinichi, "there's a ninety-four-percent probability that this face will precisely match the real face in any ninety of one hundred reference details."

"I guess that's better than a police artist's sketch," he said.

"Much better." After a beat, she said, "Is something wrong?"

Shinichi realized that she had shifted her gaze from the computer portrait to him—and that he was staring at her mouth.

"Uh," he said, looking down at the full portrait of the mystery man, "I was wondering… what's this line across his right cheek?"

"A scar."

"You're sure? From the ear to the point of the chin?"

"A major scar," she said, opening a desk drawer. "Cicatricle welt—mostly smooth tissue, crimped here and there along the edges."

Shinichi referred to the original profile shot and saw that a portion of the scar was there, although he had not correctly identified it. "I thought it was just a line of light between shadows, light from the streetlamp, falling across his cheek."

"No."

"It couldn't be that?"

"No. A scar," Shiho said firmly, and she took a Kleenex from a box in the open drawer.

"This is great. Makes for an easier ID. We'll have him in seventy-two hours. Hell, forty-eight." Shinichi looked up from the portrait. "Thanks, Shiho."

She was wiping her mouth with the Kleenex. She didn't have to be concerned about smearing her lipstick, because she wasn't wearing any. She didn't need lipstick. It couldn't improve her.

Shinichi was fascinated by the way in which her full and pliant lips compressed so tenderly under the soft Kleenex.

He realized that he was staring and that again she was aware of it. His gaze drifted up to her eyes.

Shiho blushed faintly, looked away from him, and threw the crumpled Kleenex in the waste can.

"May I keep this copy?" he asked, indicating the full-face computer-generated portrait.

Withdrawing a manila envelope from beneath the file folder on the desk, handing it to him, she said, "I've put five prints in here, plus a flash drive that contains the portrait."

"Thanks, Shiho."

"Sure."

The warm blush was still on her cheeks.

Shinichi felt that he had penetrated her cool, business-like veneer for the first time, and that he was in touch, however tenuously, with the inner Shiho, with the exquisitely sensuous self that she usually strove to conceal. He wondered if he should ask her for a date.

Turning his head, he looked through the glass walls at the workers in the computer lab, certain that they must be aware of the erotic tension in their boss's office. All three seemed to be absorbed in their work.

When Shinichi turned to Miyano Shiho again, prepared to ask her to dinner, she was surreptitiously wiping at one corner of her mouth with a fingertip. She tried to cover this by spreading her hand across her mouth and faking a cough.

With dismay, Shinichi realized that the woman had misinterpreted his salacious stare. Apparently, she thought that his attention had been drawn to her mouth by a smear or crumb, of food left over, perhaps, from a mid-morning donut.

She had been oblivious of his lust. If she _was _a lesbian, she must have assumed that Shinichi knew as much and would have no interest in her. If she wasn't a lesbian, perhaps she simply couldn't imagine being attracted—or being an object of desire—to someone like him.

How sad. How very sad.

"Can I help you with anything else?" she asked.

"No, this is fine. This is a lot. We'll nail him with this."

She nodded.

"I have to get down to the print lab, see if they got anything off that flashlight or bathroom window."

"Yes, of course," she said awkwardly.

He indulged in one last look at her _perfect _mouth, sighed, and said, "See you later."

After he had stepped out of her office, closed the door behind him, and crossed two-thirds of the long computer lab, he looked back, half hoping that she would be staring wistfully after him. Instead, she was sitting at her desk again, holding a compact in one hand, examining her mouth in that small mirror.

~.~.~.~  
_My biggest mistake wasn't falling for you, it was thinking you had fallen for me too._

_Those Lips of Hers_  
~.~_end_~.~

Title (Japanese): 彼女のその唇  
Title (Romaji): Kanojo no Sono Kuchibiru  
Title (English): Those Lips of Hers

**Author's Note:** I know that no one reads the date on my fics, but if anyone noticed, this was written way back 2010. (lol) And yes, another future fic. ^^ Sorry for the late update. I forgot XD

Kinda OOC, I know. Would it have been more in character if it was Kaito instead of Shinichi? ^^;


	13. 20 The Passing Scenery

Title: The Passing Scenery  
Author/Artist: roankun  
Pairing: Haibara Ai/Edogawa Conan  
Fandom: Detective Conan  
Theme: #20 The Road Home  
Word Count: 1,567  
Date finished: 06 November 2011  
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Detective Conan franchise.

**Note: **I had intended to use the real "DC world" map for the surroundings, but I wasn't able to. There's a summary of this fic at the end. If you want, just read that one.

**The Road Home  
by roankun**

One sunshiny day, two children around the age of eight were idly walking down the street of Beika's residential area. Bags in hand, the sound of their footsteps melded with the tweets of the afternoon birds and the distant beeps of vehicles caught in traffic.

"Haibara, what do you think of confessions?"

The girl had her eyes focused on the pavement, and if she had heard the words, no one could tell. She just kept walking as if the boy hadn't spoken, not replying.

A few minutes passed, and the two reached a train crossing. The alarm sounded, and the bars dropped. A train passed, muffling every other sound except for its screeches on the tracks.

As bars rose, the girl replied, "I don't think of them."

And the two resumed walking.

"Since I asked, you must have thought of something, right?"

Silence. And then,

"I did."

They passed a small Christian church; a lone structure in the middle of a wide courtyard. Its arches reached out to the heavens; the stained glass windows glistened in the afternoon sun. The doors were open, and the two saw a young priest standing behind a pedestal, preaching to the three sole visitors of the church.

"And what did you think of?"

"The several confessions I've received since the new school year started."

A pair of rowdy schoolchildren overtook them, passing a soccer ball to each other. The taller one kicked the ball too hard, and the two of them ran into to the gate of the house where it dropped.

"Heh… You got a lot of confessions?"

"I just said that."

The boys shouted, asking the people of the house if they could open the gate and get their ball. When no one answered, the two of them shrugged, carefully pushed the gate open, picked up the ball and ran away, laughing.

"You _are _a beauty after all, huh?"

"Is that so?"

The two of them crossed paths with a pair of female high school students. The older girls giggled when they saw the two children, and the one with longer hair whispered to her friend, "Look, he's walking his girlfriend home. How cute." The one with the hairband echoed, "How cute~"

"Yeah, that's so."

The bespectacled boy sent a backwards glance at the high schoolers, a dry backwards glance. The reddish-brown haired girl merely smirked in response. The boy sighed and resumed the conversation.

"So… what would you do if I confessed to you?"

The girl looked up at the partly-cloudy sky and the setting sun. Though it half of it had already disappeared in the horizon, the other half was still giving an orange gleam to the surface.

"…"

They turned a corner, meeting a woman in her late twenties walking a German shepherd. The dog barked as if greeting them, wagging his tail joyfully as he stuck his tongue out.

"I said 'what would you do if I confessed to you?'"

"Wanna try?"

The woman nodded at them, blushing a bit from the impulsiveness of her dog. The two nodded back; the boy giving the dog a pat on the head when they passed each other.

"Only after you answer me."

"Is that so?"

They next walked by a two-story house with walls that used to be painted; the color washed away by rain and age. The building stood ominously in the middle of a weed-populated yard and vines were crawling up the walls. The house had been abandoned for years and the neighborhood children had already branded it as haunted.

"Yeah, that's so."

"I'll say 'I already know that; it's obvious."

A car beeped from behind them and the two stepped aside to let the unusual Mustang Convertible drive through the narrow street. Its original paint was completely covered by characters from one of the recent fighting games released. Even the car windows were covered with stickers of the arcade game.

"…"

"It's what I told the others."

Passing by a flight of stairs leading to a temple on top of a hill, one of the temple maidens sweeping the entrance held back her hair as a gust of wind blew away the pile of leaves she had gathered together. With an exasperated "Geez!", she threw down the broom and stomped up the steps.

"Did you mean that?"

One of the temple's priests met her halfway, and she fumbled around for an excuse before giving up and apologizing. With an ashamed bow, she went back to her duty with a sigh.

"Mean what? 'It's what I told the others?'"

A man around his mid-thirties walked past them, each of his steps getting heavier than the last. Wearing a gray business suit with the necktie loosened, he looked as if he had just been fired from his job or lost all his money at the casino, or both, and was dreading having to go home to tell his wife the bad news.

"No, not that. The 'it's obvious' part."

"I don't lie, Kudo-kun."

Though there was still a faint glow coming from the setting sun, the streetlights situated by the side of the road flickered on, bringing new light and shadow to the two's figures.

"Yeah, I know."

"…"

In the second floor of a pale blue house they passed by, a man opened the windows. He stretched his arms and massaged his neck a little before bringing out a small pack of cigarettes. Lighting one, he leaned on the windowsill, puffed and blew a wisp of smoke in the air.

"So it's true?"

"You're annoying. I already said I don't lie, didn't I?"

A woman appeared beside the man and confiscated the pack of cigarettes. Waving her finger back and forth, she seemed to be scolding him and telling him to stop smoking. The man moved to kiss her, but she pushed him away and pointed alternately to his chest and the cigarette. The man threw the stick he had lit out the window and stepped away from the window with an annoyed expression. The woman followed after him, the came back and closed the windows.

"Yeah, I guess so…"

"…"

The sun sank fully in the horizon, and the sky, tinted orange just moments ago, settled into a comfortable mixture of blue and purple. The clouds cleared a little, revealing two stars situated in the distance.

"…"

"Well?"

The lights in the houses around them blinked on in succession, as if guided by an orchestra's conductor. Only the lights in the lights in a mansion-like house not too far away stayed unlit.

"Well what?"

"Will you try?"

A Western-style house stood on their right, seemingly lonely. The door was closed and the yard was unkempt; the weeds almost mirrored the ones in the neighborhood's haunted house. The word "Kudo" was on the house's name plate and these 'Kudos' were rarely ever home.

"Hmmm…"

"…"

The two arrived in front of a partly-opened gate gurading a dome-shaped home. Smoke was rising from the chimney and sounds of iron clanging could be heard from the inside. The word "Hiroshi" could be read on the house's name plate.

"Nah."

_~.~.~.~  
Some things are worth waiting for... even if you have to wait forever._

_The Passing Scenery__  
~.~__end__~.~_

**A/N**: Yes, sunshiny is a word. I was surprised myself. :P

Okay, so basically, it's just one short conversation. The title's "The Passing Scenery" because it seems like I gave more focus on the scenery than on the conversation itself right? But to tell you the truth, I think this fic's awesome. Not good, not great, not perfect, just awesome. It's like poetry to me. ^^ But yeah, I still like "If You Smile" the best. XD

So basically, here's a tl;dr of this oneshot:

Conan: Haibara, what do you think of confessions?  
Haibara: I don't think of them.  
Conan: Since I asked, you must have thought of something, right?  
Haibara: I did.  
Conan: And what did you think of?  
Haibara: The several confessions I've received since the new school year started.  
Conan: Heh… You got a lot of confessions?  
Haibara: I just said that.  
Conan: You _are _a beauty after all, huh?  
Haibara: Is that so?  
Conan: Yeah, that's so.  
Conan: So… what would you do if I confessed to you?  
Haibara: …  
Conan: I said 'what would you do if I confessed to you?'  
Haibara: Wanna try?  
Conan: Only after you answer me.  
Haibara: Is that so?  
Conan: Yeah, that's so.  
Haibara: I'll say 'I already know that; it's obvious.  
Conan: …  
Haibara: It's what I told the others.  
Conan: Did you mean that?  
Haibara: Mean what? 'It's what I told the others?'  
Conan: No, not that. The 'it's obvious?' part.  
Haibara: I don't lie, Kudo-kun.  
Conan: Yeah, I know.  
Haibara: …  
Conan: So it's true?  
Haibara: You're annoying. I already said I don't lie, didn't I?  
Conan: Yeah, I guess so…  
Haibara: …  
Conan: …  
Haibara: Well?  
Conan: Well what?  
Haibara: Will you try?  
Conan: Hmmm…  
Haibara: …  
Conan: Nah.

It's a mere 170 words, but I hope you liked it~


	14. 27 Your First Kiss

Title (Japanese): 君のファーストキス  
Author/Artist: roankun  
Pairing: Haibara Ai/Edogawa Conan  
Fandom: Detective Conan  
Theme: #27 Overflow  
Word Count: 1,941  
Date finished: 01 May 2012  
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Detective Conan franchise.

**Overflow  
by roankun**

It was a sweltering hot afternoon in July, just a week before school let out for summer vacation. I, along with the rest of the Detective Boys, was killing some time inside a nearby convenience store, cooling off in the air-conditioned room and choosing which ice cream to buy. We were lined up by the store's freezer: Haibara, Ayumi-chan, me, Genta, and Mitsuhiko; with Mitsuhiko closest to the cashier.

I already had mine in hand, a Mint Chocolate, and was just waiting for the others, especially Genta, to finish choosing.

"Hurry up and just pick whatever," I complained, leaning on the store's freezer. "It won't make a difference when it reaches your stomach."

Genta didn't remove his intense glare on the trove of ice cream and said, "I reaaaally want Rocky Road, but I haven't tried the Choco Java one yet…"

"That's mocha-flavored, Genta-kun," injected Mitsuhiko, finally taking a Lemon Cornetto from the freezer. "Do you even like mocha?"

"I'll go for anything as long as it's chocolate!" grinned Genta. Then he dropped the smile and gave me a puppy-eyed look that never works. "Hey Conan, can't you treat me to two?"

"Absolutely n—"

"Don't be greedy, Genta-kun!" scolded Ayumi-chan, "It's the precious money that Kogoro-ojisan won at the deb… der… derby! You should be thankful with what you get!"

Haibara shot me an amused smirk and I could only smile awkwardly at what Ayumi-chan said. The truth is, it wasn't Kogoro-occhan who gave me the money. Rather, there's no way that old drunkard (and I say this fondly) could actually win in any form of lottery. But the Professor was starting to feel sorry for the poor kids who had to endure these recent hot days but were too embarrassed to accept money from the old man who was about to hit retirement.

I must say, I feel kinda proud of the Detective Boys. Back then, these guys would have jumped at the chance to get ice cream for free from the Professor, but now, they actually had the courtesy to decline. Well, that balding old man (and I say this fondly) still had a soft spot for these kids, so he asked me treat them to ice cream under the pretense of Kogoro-occhan winning the derby.

"So Ayumi-chan," I said, changing the subject, "What flavor are you gonna get?"

I noticed Haibara take a cone of Strawberry Chocolate while Ayumi-chan's troubled eyes flitted from the freezer to the cone in my hand. Was there something weird with my choice? It's not like Chocolate Mint is a bizarre flavor or anything, right?

"Alright! I'll choose Choco Java!" Genta shouted beside me, stuck his hands inside the freezer and started digging – literally.

"Genta! What are you doing!" I demanded as I watched him move Choco Java after Choco Java to the side and reaching for the lowest one.

"'Coz the ones at the top are too soft y'know? You gotta get the rock hard ones at the bottom!" he announced, finally getting his cone.

Meanwhile, I could hear Ayumi-chan taking a deep breath beside me. When I finally glanced her way, I saw that she took a cone of Mint Chocolate.

Just like mine, huh?

I took everyone's cones and paid for them at the register while everybody grabbed seats by the window.

When I went to where they were, I noticed that we had changed positions. They left me an empty seat in the middle, with Haibara and Ayumi-chan on both sides. Genta was sitting beside Ayumi-chan, and Mitsuhiko was sitting beside Haibara, eyeing my seat.

"Here you go." I gave them their ice creams and took my seat. When I removed the wrapper from the cone, I noticed that the ice cream was a little melted. Maybe I shouldn't have taken it out of the freezer while waiting for them to choose…

"Ah."

Ayumi-chan suddenly let her voice out and we all turned to look at her. She had her eyes on the magazine rack right across us.

"What is it, Ayumi-chan?" I asked.

"We have that magazine at home," she said, pointing to a magazine with the words "Girl MAG" printed in bold pink letters. Oh, right. One of those appropriately named girly magazines. Ran has a few at home, but if I remember right, it was Sonoko who gave her those…

"What about it?" I prodded, taking a bite from my cone. I spied Genta already plowing through half of his and I cringed.

"It has these 'Get-to-Know-Yourself Quizzes' inside and…" she trailed off, blushing a little.

"Oh, I know about those!" piped up Mitsuhiko. "My sister asked me one of those the other day. If I'm not mistaken, this issue was about water and…"

"Stop!" Ayumi-chan raised her hand and turned to squarely face me.

"C-Conan-kun… Let me… 'test' you…" she said nervously. "A-Ai-chan… You too."

Haibara looked up curiously from her ice cream and raised an eyebrow at me. I shrugged in response and decided to go along with Ayumi-chan's quiz. It's not like a Get-to-Know-Yourself Quiz is gonna say anything about us being shrunk through drugs. Those kind of quizzes are just like fortune telling, relying on the Barnum Effect and whatnot by giving general questions and general interpretations that could describe anybody and everybody.

"Alright, Ayumi-chan." I smiled a little. "Try me."

"O-Okay… Here I go…" She took a deep breath and started the quiz.

"You're in the middle of an unfamiliar place, and you're very, very thirsty. There's no water fountain or vending machine in sight, and you can feel your throat getting drier by the second. Then suddenly, a person comes to you and offers you a glass of water. Now, how would you drink that water?"

Rather than an answer, I'd say I was thinking more about how she actually memorized the whole thing.

"Conan-kun?"

"Umm… I guess, uh, I'd drink it slowly. You know, relish the taste of it? I mean, I might not be able to get another drink soon, so I gotta treasure the moment, right?" But I could probably do something about it, I thought to myself, like call the Professor and have him bring me some water or something.

"I-I see…" whispered Ayum-chan, blushing. "What about Ai-chan?"

"Let's see… I'll probably gulp it all down," she said clearly, taking a lick of her ice cream.

I sent her an incredulous look that asked 'Why?'

"If I really were that thirsty, I wouldn't even have the awareness to think 'Oh! I might not be able to get another drink soon! I should drink this slowly and treasure every last drop!" That last part was said with such sarcasm that I didn't doubt for a second she only gave that answer to mock me.

I could feel my eyebrow twitching but I forced myself to calm down. Get it together, Shinichi, don't bite. You know she's just playing with you.

"S-So Ayumi-chan? What's the verdict?" I clumsily said, forcing down the retorts in my throat.

I noticed that Ayumi-chan's blush turned deeper when Haibara gave her answer. Seriously, what is this quiz for? I tapped her a little on the shoulder to wake her from her Haibara-staring trance.

"Oh! Um, it's a two-part question. Here's the second one: What would you say to the person who gave you the water?"

"You mean, he's still around even after I finish drinking?" I asked.

"Of course," interjected Haibara. "He was probably waiting for you to give him back his glass, Edogawa-kun. Since you were bothering him by drinking so slowly."

I felt my grip on the cone tighten on impulse. She's just playing with you, Shinichi. Don't give her the satisfaction…

"So, um, what's your answer, Conan-kun?"

I sent Haibara a smirk before saying, "Why don't we hear Haibara's answer first?"

Ayumi-chan agreed and I could almost feel Haibara's stare burning holes on my forehead. I took the last bite of my ice cream to cool down.

"Fine, then," she said. "I'll tell him to give me more."

"At least have the decency to thank him!" I immediately retorted. "If I were that person, I might just fill that glass to overflowing just to splash it in your face." Ayumi-chan gave a surprised gasp behind me, and I could see Mitsuhiko getting redder. Both of them know the results, come to think of it…

"How crude. Splashing a lady with water just because she asked for more."

I gave her a dry stare in reply.

"So that's what you'll say, Edogawa-kun? 'Thank you'?"

"It's only polite, you know, to say thanks after a person gives you something." I sighed. "To just demand him to give you more… Just how shameless can you get?"

"If he was going to give me a glass of water, that must mean he has more. He should have just given his whole stock if he knew I was thirsty."

Seriously. How selfish is this woman?

"Well, Ayumi-chan?" I turned to the girl who brought this up. I gave up on lecturing Haibara; I knew nothing will come out of it anyway. "What is it supposed to mean?"

"You… T-The…" She then coughed and put a hand on her chest, as if to calm herself. "The first one, how you'll drink the water… refers to… umm…"

To…?

"Y-Your first kiss."

Oh, I see. … Wait, WHAT!

"So," Mitsuhiko muttered behind me, "Conan-kun will give a slow, gentle first kiss and H-Haibara-san will… G-Gulp it all down."

Well… damn. I never realized Haibara was that assertive. I stole a small glance at the strawberry blonde sadist (and I say this fondly) behind me and saw her… calmly licking her ice cream. She doesn't seem to be the least bit fazed by this.

"A-And, the second question i-is," Ayumi-chan continued, "Um, it'll be your words after your first kiss."

Oh, I see. So mine will be "Thank you" and Haibara's will be…

"GIVE ME MORE!"

At this, I fully turned to look at the girl in question. She had just put the last bit of the cone in her mouth, and her tongue darted out for the smallest of seconds to lick her lips. For some reason, I could feel my cheeks heating up.

Then, that ever-there smirk appeared on her face and in that slow, mocking drawl of hers, she said, "Don't tell me you actually believe those things, Edogawa-kun?"

~.~.~.~  
_Kisses are like tears. The only ones that are real are the ones you can't hold back._

We were all a bit quiet after that scene.

It seemed that Genta had fallen asleep after finishing his ice cream, and didn't even hear a part of the conversation. Mitsuhiko and Ayumi-chan agreed to walk his half-asleep frame home. Haibara lived in the opposite direction, so we were more or less stuck with each other.

After an awkward goodbye to the trio at the intersection (Genta having no idea what happened), the two of us walked the rest of the way to the Professor's house in silence.

Going inside the house, she went straight to her room and I stepped inside to give the change to the Professor, but found a note on the kitchen table saying he was gonna be away until eight. I left the money on the table and considered whether I should stay for dinner.

In the end, I opted to go back to the detective agency. It was still a little awkward between Haibara and me. Or rather, I couldn't quite stay calm with her around.

I waited a little bit for her to come down before leaving, but she never did, so I shouted a casual (at least, I hoped it was casual) "I'll be going now!" up the stairs before letting myself out the front door.

Still… I could almost swear I saw a strangely familiar pink magazine lying on the sofa before I left…

_Your First Kiss_  
~.~_end_~.~

Title (Japanese): 君のファーストキス  
Title (Romaji): Kimi no First Kiss  
Title (English): Your First Kiss

**Author's Notes: **Inspired by the KissXSis radio program. I've been listening to the backlogs at animate, and sometimes, I split my sides just laughing.

Well, this turned out a LOT longer than expected, and I was actually thinking of using something else for this theme, but oh well. There's a short skit that I cut out that was supposed to go in the part when Conan left to pay for the ice cream, after these a/n's.

Oh, and, um, **this will be my last update**. If you haven't noticed, most of the works here were made a long time ago, and I was just uploading what I've made over two years one at a time. Now that I've uploaded all of them, I don't have anything else left (at least, none that are fit for posting) and I don't quite have the motivation to write anything new. Oh, but that doesn't mean I'll never update again. It just means I won't be updating... for a long time.

So, thanks to everyone who read and reviewed. It was a fun ride! ~roankun

~.~.~.~

Ayumi: I'm sitting beside Conan-kun! *takes second seat*  
Haibara: I'll sit anywhere, as long as it's not beside Kojima-kun.  
Genta: How rude! I eat clean and fast, you know!  
Haibara: I know about fast, but I wonder about clean. Do you remember what you did to my dress last time? *takes fourth seat*  
Genta: Uhm… Uhh… Sigh… *takes first seat*  
Mitsuhiko: Th-Then I'm sitting beside Haibara-san!  
Haibara: …  
Mitsuhiko: Haibara-san…?  
Haibara: *shrug* I don't mind.  
Mitsuhiko: *takes fifth seat*  
Mitsuhiko: *whisper* Wait a second… Maybe I can sit in between Haibara-san and Ayumi-chan…!  
Conan: *comes* Here you go.  
Mitsuhiko: Tch.


End file.
